We spoke again with Alex Woods, the biological father of Mariah Woods. He told NewsChannel 12's Merrilee Moore he had been cleared by investigators as a suspect.
So let me get this straight. The biological father who has not seen his children in a year and a half because he works Friday nights and the mother would not allow his then new live in girlfriend to pick the children up, but never picked them up on Saturday, tells a media outlet that he has been cleared by investigators in (the death of Mariah, any prior abuse or neglect, sinking the titanic) by (law enforcement, social services or the good humor man) make it fact? So help me understand this because I may be a little senile and confused. If I tell a reporter that I climbed Mt Everest does that make it fact?
I am not trying to discredit the father or get him elected Pope. I am genuinely concerned with what we are accepting as “fact” or “proof”. When did we put down innocent until proven guilty and pick up pitchforks and torches based on our feelings about how we feel about somone or how they look or grieve. At this point in time the only allegations I have seen regarding sexual assault was the word of the father who had been absent for a year and a half. The only allegations of a belt incident were from the father. The only word of the mother blocking visitation is from the father. When did he who talks the most get elevated to being the truth teller? What standard are we using now, prepondence of evidence, probable cause, resonable doubt? We are better than this. We don’t dispense justice based on feelings and poorly informed opinions. This is a country where we are innocent until proven guilty
I saw something happen here the last 24 hours or so that shocked me. Someone asked a question and several people who live, work and play in my beautiful home state attempted to answer the question with the true and accurate knowledge they have from living here. Yes some posters were so convinced of what they either wanted to believe or thought without enough information, that they continued to challenge the information.
We who live here understand the unique traditions and information relative to our state just as I would expect posters from other states and countries to about theirs. I would never be so bold as to challenge someone else about their knowledge of their homes. Yet we are all here because we want justice for the beautiful child Mariah. I understand the rage one feels at the premature death of a child. We cant be so blinded by that rage that we lessen our standards for fact and proof.
We can not be so consumed by that rage that we take it out on those who disagree with us. If we work together instead of taking sides based on intuition or feelings we will accomplish far more. We can respectfully disagree and still work together to reach a common goal.
JMHO